Comment

Comment by Garlen Mikolichek on December 2, 2009 at 6:10pm

To get the rivets out without using an air hammer , I made a small press to push out the rivets. It looks like a "c" clamp and works good. I took two plates of steel,spaced them 1/2" apart, notched them to a "c" shape then welded a 1/2" nut on one end. I drilled a 3/16" hole in the end of a 1/2" bolt and placed a 3/16" bolt with the threads ground off into the the 1/2" bolt for the punch.

Comment by Robert Pelland on November 14, 2009 at 7:25pm

Wendll, They are called " Wing nut draw Cleco's " and can be found at most of the aircraft tool suppliers. They have a much stronger holding, and clamping capicity, however they are rather expensive. You can count on paying anywhere between 2.25$ to 3.50$ deoending on the clamping length.

Robert
The 701 & 750 scratch

Comment by Wendell D. Sullivan on November 14, 2009 at 10:48am

What are the tools that look like special clecoes? How many will be needed and where can they be purchased?

Comment by Clarence K. Andrews on November 13, 2009 at 9:22pm

After just a cursory glance at the proposed drawings. it appears that the installation will be somewhat labor intensive, and is something that sometimes will require help from at least tow helpers. The good news is that there doesn't seem to be a lot of material added, which is good in that the added weight is not significant. It's just that where the material is added will require a lot of labor to get it there. Since the amount of material is small, hopefully that will be reflected in a reasonably low cost for the parts and drawings.

Comment by Dan Dempsey on November 13, 2009 at 10:55am

At one point during building my wings (the first time) I messed up the bottom spar cap and had to remove it. I found the rivets almost impossible to drive out with a hammer. I solved this problem by making a little jack. Pictures can be seen here:
http://daniel.dempseyfamily.us/zodiac/wings/BigGoof/rivetRemovalToo...

Comment by Robert Pelland on November 13, 2009 at 6:32am

Not that it's any of my business, but in seeing the work involved in knocking out the solid rivets, there is a way it might be done more effectivlly. Once the head is removed, and some one get's out the hammer, you might want to think about supporting the rear of the spar with some weight. I would use a half inch drive deep socket around the protruding rivet, backup up with a small heavy weight of sorts, somethng akin to a bucking bar. This way there would be much less mouvement of the spar, and a much quicker, and easier removal of the rivet. This would resemble the rivet's initial installation process by being backed up at the rear.
Just a thought,,,

Robert
The 701 & 750 scratch

Comment by Phill Barnes on November 13, 2009 at 4:30am

Hi all
Sebastien asked me to send questions to his email and not to this blog but feel free to leave comments. Fare enough. Mathieu Heintz also has a Q&A forum here http://www.zenith.aero/forum/topics/building-hints-tips-and-tricks and is doing a pretty good job at answering questions thoroughly. Well done Heintz boys. Keep up the pics & vids. We all wanted a stronger plane, now we've got it. So long as we get all the infomation that we need or request, who can really complain.

Regards
Phill

Comment by Taylor Ogden on November 12, 2009 at 9:39pm

I'm not building a Zodiac, but I'm keenly interested just to see the quality of support, in both directions. Zenith supports us, and we support you!
Thanks to all involved.
Taylor

Comment by Matt Archer on November 12, 2009 at 9:23pm

Thanks for these Blogs. They are very valuable in answering a lot of questions.

I really appreciate your efforts and customer support.

Cheers

Matt